Hero Of Sorts: Jill Of All Trades
by Rylak
Summary: Nine months after the events of Hero Of Sorts, Tails and Fiona are thrown back into the action. This time, the game has changed. Eggman is on the attack, and Sonic is after Tails. Who is friend, who is foe, and who is family? It seems all the pieces are in play... but who is playing this game? Rated M for death and fire and Tails' weird dreams.
1. Kickstarter

Dust settled across the interior of the Spectre assault craft, coating the unused co-pilot's seat and controls and the myriad objects of technology all over the floor. The fold-out beds in the back had been stowed for months without use. The only occupant of the ship slept in the pilot's seat, snoring lightly and dreaming a strange scene.

Behind him he saw a small building barely disguised as a grassy hill. On top of it sat his friends. A brown-furred Squirrel named Sally who had always been kind and loving towards him; Antoine and Bunnie, a strange couple of Coyote and Rabbit who were married, proving that love can prevail anywhere; a large purple Walrus named Rotor, who he had always looked up to as a senior mechanic; a young pink Hedgehog who he knew to be full of energy and caring to a fault; a yellow Mongoose named Mina whose singing voice was as clear and beautiful as she herself was; and finally Sonic, the blue Hedgehog, whose super speed had saved the world many times over. He looked up to them all, but Sonic was his hero. He was everyone's hero.

He smiled back at all of them and they waved at him, smiling and encouraging. Then he heard a shout from in front. Turning to see who was calling him, he saw a young Vixen in a white wedding dress. She had her back turned to him so he couldn't see her face, but he knew only one person she could be. It was Fiona. It had to be. Her tail swished with a slow, suggestive flick. He called her name, reaching out to her. She turned around and smiled at him, her black hair falling in front of her violet eyes. She spoke.

"Look up."

He did as he was bid, lookin up. There was nothing alarming at first, but then the shadow fell across him. Floating in the sky above him was a colossal battle station called the Death Egg... and it was falling towards him.

Tails woke with a start, lurching forward and hitting his head on the ship's control console. He clutched at his head and sat up straight, swearing. He checked his hand briefly, making sure he wasn't bleeding. He looked around, reassuring himself that he was alone, then leaned back and pondered the dream. He didn't know much about how to interpret dreams, but he sorted through what he could remember.

The Death Egg, yes, that was still in the sky over Mobius. Eggman seemed content to just let it float there for now, along with his massive fleet. It's appearance probably indicated that Eggman was going to make his move soon.

He was sure he had forgotten something about the Freedom Fighters... they were together. Was Sonic standing apart from them? He couldn't remember. But they were happy. He was happy. She was happy.

Fiona... but... not? Violet eyes and black hair? She seemed familiar, but Tails couldn't think of any other Vixens he knew. Maybe a long time ago, when he was a child? A friend of his parents? Then he recognized the face. It was Li Moon. He had met her years ago when in the Dragon Kingdom with Sonic. Her grandfather was a village elder and had let them stay there for the night.

He thought about Li Moon. He had almost forgotten about her completely. Where was she? Was she okay? Was she even still alive? The Freedom Fighters hadn't had any contact with their Dragon Kingdom allies for years. She had probably grown since he last saw her. He briefly imagined her naked, knocking the thought out of his head immediately. For all he knew, she was still a minor.

His thoughts were cut off as the boarding ramp opened up and someone walked up. He spun in his chair, not sure who to expect. Maybe Fiona had come back. Maybe Sonic and the Freedom Fighters had caught him. Maybe it was Li Moon. That would explain why she was in his dream... to a degree. His hand wrapped around a gun he had stowed beside the pilot's seat, making sure his finger was in the trigger. The face that met his gaze was, welcome yes, but the last one he expected.

"Heya Tails! I gotta package for ya!" Happy buzzing filled the air as Charmy Bee flew in past the hulking form of Vector and dropped down right in front of him. "Here ya go! Don't eat it all in one place!"

Vector rolled his eyes. "Charmy, you're not supposed to let him know what it is. It's a surprise!"

Just as Tails was about to take the box from Charmy, the hapless Bee turned around to face Vector. "Yeah, well, I bet he was surprised when we showed up!" Vector was about to shoot a comeback at him, but Tails cut him off.

"Sure was surprised. How'd you find me?"

Vector opened his mouth to explain, but Charmy cut him off. "Espio's a ninja, dummy!"

Espio appeared out of thin air right beside Tails, but it failed to startle the Kitsune. Espio thought nothing of the lack of shock, and spoke plainly. "And the Chaotix have been keeping tabs on you since you ran off."

Vector pitched in. "One of us has been within eye-shot of you at all times."

Tails huffed. It figured. "Sally put you up to this? Sonic hire you?"

Vector looked to Charmy. "Uh... no. We just decided to watch your back. Jump in if you ever needed us. You know, what friends do."

"I see. And where's the rest of the team?"

Vector crossed his arms. "Eh, you mean Julie-su, Mighty, and Ray?"

Tails nodded. "And Saffron."

"Hmm? Who's Saffron?" Charmy glared up at Vector, spurring the Croc to recheck his memory. "Oh, yes, Saffron! Yeah, her too." Charmy seemed placated by this.

Tails leaned back in his chair, letting the gun drop back into it's holster. "Yeah, so where are they?"

Charmy shrugged. "Mighty said he was gonna take Ray to show him the... what did he say, Vector?" Tails' ears perked up at this.

Vector sighed. "The joys of coffee. Frankly, I don't think Ray needs it. He's jumpy enough as it is. Julie-su's visiting Knux, and Saffron went and quit the Chaotix about three months ago. Only Charmy keeps in contact with her."

"She apparently decided to get a real job."

Vector glared at Espio. "Right... a real job. Cause being a waitress is far more respectable than being a detective."

Charmy jumped up, laughing. "Oh Vector, you're just jealous."

"Yeah, that's what it is..."

Tails interrupted. "So... do I get to see what's in the package?"

Charmy turned around and held the box out for him. "Sure! It's yummy!"

Tails took it, wondering how many flowers he could eat before he cracked up. He opened the box, smiling up at Charmy. Looking in, he saw a stack of small cookies. "Oh, gee, guys. I don't know what to say."

"How about thanks?"

Tails looked to the entrance, to the biggest surprise of them all. Rouge stood there, sporting a new outfit that emphasized hearts even more than all those that came before. She had let her hair grow a bit, falling around her shoulders. It looked good, but Tails wasn't used to it.

"What are you doing here?"

Rouge leaned against the hull. "I'm with them. The reason we all came here was to warn you."

Tails closed the box and set it aside. "Warn me?"

Rouge's face grew darker. "The Babylon Rogues are in town. They're hunting you."


	2. The Hunt

The sun peaked over the horizon, casting the first rays of daylight over the Ring. All was calm and quite at first. Then, inside a tidied little house decorated with a row of yellow flowers in front, a bedside clock flipped it's numbers from 5:59 to 6:00. The music started instantly, though some might refrain from calling it music. The sudden roar shook the room, waking the Vixen who had been lying topless in the bed. She reacted by rolling over and pulling her blanket up over her head. She let out an expletive before grabbing her pillow and whacking the clock with it. Both items crashed to the ground, the clock making considerably more noise. Then the clock radio in the kitchen went off.

"Look alive, Sunshine..."

She swore again.

"109 in the sky but the pigs won't quit. You're here with me: Dr. Death Defying! I'll be your surgeon, your proctor, your helicopter. Pumpin' out the slaughtermatic sounds to keep you alive."

She sat up and stretched her arms out. "I'ma freakin' murder that radio."

"A system failure for the masses, anti-matter for the master plan! Louder than God's revolver and twice as shiny! This one's for all of you rock'n'rollers, all you crash queens and motor babies! Listen up!"

She jumped out of bed and grabbed a shirt, walking out of the room as she put it on. "I can here you loud and clear, you motherf-" She tripped and fell down the stairs, letting loose a constant stream of profanities.

"The future is bulletproof! The aftermath is secondary! It's time to do it now and do it loud! Killjoys, make some noise!"

By the time she reached the kitchen, the song was half way through. She punched it and it turned off. The house fell silent. Then there was a knock at the door. She slowly stepped to the door, wondering who would know where she was. She moved to the Ring to get away from everyone and everything. Had someone found her?

She opened the door to see a Lynx, taller than her and with a far better build, and a short overlander wearing a green coat. The overlander smiled, though it was a fake smile.

"Hello, Li Moon."

"Go away."

He stepped forward. "No, no, no. We're not leaving. Let me lay it out for you. Either you do as we ask or we beat you, tie you down, and burn your house down on top of you."

Li Moon growled. "Then make it quick. What do you want?"

"First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Colin Robotnik. I'm sure you've heard of me."

"Name doesn't ring a bell. Who the hell is she?" Li Moon indicated the Lynx. Both looked somewhat surprised.

"She's... the Conquering Storm... you're from the Dragon Kingdom, you should recognize her."

She laughed. "Right... one of those Raiju thugs. That's all you guys are now, isn't it. Hired thugs trying to claw your way back out of obscurity?" She sensed the Lynx's anger beginning to boil over.

Colin broke back in before she could start at anything. "Listen, can we come in."

Li Moon smiled briefly, quickly replacing it with a scowl. "Oh, uh... No. Tell me what you want or get the fu-"

"Revenge."

She coughed, unsure what he meant. "Revenge?"

He grinned maliciously. "We're offering you a chance for revenge."

"Forget about it. I'm not going back to the Dragon Kingdom. The Iron King and Queen are too strong for me anyway. There's no way I could-"

"That's not what I mean." He shook his head and sighed. "No... think about it. Why did you leave the Dragon Kingdom? The place you always called home?"

She remained silent, not wanting to give into it.

"Who was always there to stop it? Who wasn't there that one time?"

"Don't..."

"Who abandoned you when you were waiting for your hero?"

She couldn't take it any longer. "Khan."

"No. Not the Monkey king."

This surprised her. How did he know who she looked up to. Scratch that, who she used to look up to. "Sonic?"

He chuckled. "You're not as smart as you look. I mean Miles Prower. He's the one who abandoned you, let your world crumble around you. He's the one who didn't save you."

"What do you want from me, hairless freak?"

"I know why he wasn't there. I know who held him back. Who kept him in this place, and kept him from rescuing you."

"Right, and who would that be?"

"Fiona Fox."

Li Moon froze. She had heard that name years ago, the last time she had met Miles... Tails. He had come to the Dragon Kingdom with his friends Sonic and Sally to help Monkey Khan defeat the Iron Dominion. They had stayed with her and her grandfather at the time. Later, they had told her of an encounter with Fiona. Sonic had let slip that Tails had a thing for Fiona.

Li Moon felt like she was burning up. At first, she thought it was anger and rage, but then she realized it was jealousy. She realized that he was right. She wanted at Fiona, but not for the reasons Colin thought. She wanted Tails, loved him even, and Fiona had kept him away from her.

"Where is she."

Colin smiled knowingly. "She lives just down the street from you." When she immediately began to move out the door, he put his hands up to block her. "Hey, not so fast. We need you to follow her around, find out what she's up to."

"So, keep it quiet?"

"Yes... Conquering Storm will go with you."

Li Moon looked over at the Lynx, suddenly remembering that she was there. "Why do I need her?"

Conquering Storm spoke for the first time. "Because I actually am as smart as I look."

"I also had her bring some Gears for the two of you. It'll help with transportation."

Li Moon watched as Conquering Storm unstrapped the two hover boards from her back. She handed Li Moon one of them. "The orange one's mine, you can have the pink one."

Colin bowed. He had intended it to be a mockery, but Li Moon bowed in response. He turned around and walked away. "Now excuse me, as I must return to my empire."

Once he was out of hearing range, Conquering Storm snorted in the direction he had gone. "His empire, indeed. His uncle only keeps him around for nostalgia." She looked at Li Moon briefly before slapping her on the back of her head and walking inside. "Let's get to work. I want to get out of this hole in a week at the most."

The young Vixen followed her in. "What? We have a week?"

Conquering Storm turned to look at her. "No, I just want to be done within a week."

"And you get to decide that?"

"Yes, I'm in charge here. You have a problem with that?"

Li Moon closed the door behind her. "No. Of course. You're in charge. It's just my house, that's all." She rolled her eyes while saying that last part.

The Lynx noticed this. She laughed, shaking her head and sitting on the couch. "So there is a problem. You wanna talk about it?" Li Moon sighed and shook her head, taking off up the stairs. "No? Should I watch out for a knife in my back? Poison in my tea?"

Li Moon called from the second floor. "You can't have any of my tea!"

She stretched out across the couch, getting herself comfy. "How about an apple?"

"I don't have any apples!"

"Of course you don't... Get down here! We need to get started!"

Li Moon stomped down the stairs and sat down in a chair across from Conquering Storm. "So, what? Just sneaky our way around, acting like it's nobody's business, following Fiona all over town?"

"Yes, pretty much."

Li Moon shrugged. "Then I know what I'm doing. But I'm not starting this early in the morning." She stood up and there was a small, sharp popping sound. Conquering Storm tried to stand, but fell on the floor. She looked up to Li Moon, who was now standing over her and holding a gun with a silencer stuck on the end. She smirked at the fallen Lynx. "And you're not gonna make me. By the time you wake up, you'll be tied down, beaten, and left in a burning house. Even if you escape, I'll be long gone."

Then Conquering Storm blacked out.

**Author's Note:** The song that plays on the radio first is just supposed to be generic screaming music. The second one is the first track from Danger Days, the fourth studio album by My Chemical Romance.


	3. Ring Of Fire

Fiona was knelt down in her backyard with her hands stuck in a shallow hole in the dirt. She exerted a bit of strength and pulled the remainder of a weed's roots out of the ground, chucking the handful into a paper bag. She replaced it with a small pink rose, then filled in around it with dirt. Finishing up, she cupped her hands around it and pressed the soil down, packing it together.

She grabbed the bag and stood up, putting her hands on her hips and inspecting her work. Pleased, she went back into the house. It was only a few seconds before someone knocked on the door. Not sure who it was, but sure she could handle it, Fiona stepped to the door and opened it.

"Can I help-"

She was cut off as a large gloved hand grabbed her face and ripped her out of the house, throwing her into the street. She tried to stand up when something whacked into her forehead. She fell onto her back and swore. She looked up to see a purple-feathered bird standing on a Gear and hovering in the air. Another, larger bird walked over from her home. He reached down and grabbed her around her waist, picking her up.

The purple bird laughed sharply. "Wonder why he even cares about her, she's so weak. We might as well end it right here. Strangle her, Storm."

The larger bird, Storm, didn't seem concerned about Fiona. As such, he responded by grabbing her throat and squeezing, gradually adding pressure.

Fiona was already blacking out, but managed to gurgle out a word. "Gun."

The other bird was about to laugh again when Fiona pulled her gun out of it's holster and fired without even lifting it. Storm shrieked as the energy blast blew his foot apart. He dropped Fiona and collapsed. Fiona stood, gasping, and aimed at Storm's head.

Storm reached for his companion. "Wave, help!"

Wave responded quickly, spinning her board and kicking off of it, sending it flying towards Fiona. The Vixen ducked, letting the board fly off on it's own, but also letting Storm crawl away. She turned and pointed the gun at Wave, but was hit in the back of the head by the hover board. Her grip tightened and the gun fired, the shot going out of sight. Wave caught the board and jumped onto it, going over to Storm and lifting him up before making a break for it.

Fiona stood and watched them go. She didn't know who they were, so she had no idea how to find them. She sighed and walked back to her house, stopping when she saw the flames. Her house was on fire. Frozen and silence by shock, Fiona stood completely unable to do anything. All her things were gone. She had nothing.

Conquering Storm woke up, feeling the heat before she saw the flames. She started panting, trying to cool down, but it was already too hot. She struggled against the rope that held her to… whatever it was behind her. Fear gripped her, knowing she could never escape. She could only hope someone would hear her. So she screamed.

Outside, Fiona was brought to her senses by the scream. Someone was in her house, and her house was burning. She didn't know who it was, or how they got there, but they were in danger now. She ran to the front door and kicked it down, jumping out of the way as a burst of flame shot out. Realizing she couldn't get in that way, Fiona went around the side to the cellar door. She pulled the doors open and jumped in.

Conquering Storm heard the doors across the room open and saw someone leap down, but couldn't make out who it was. She figured it wasn't Snively or Li Moon, but had no clue after that. She felt someone untie the ropes around her, whispering a thank you as they fell to the floor.

"Do I want to know what you were doing tied up in my basement?"

The two got a good look at each other, then spoke in unison. "You!"

Fiona backed away. "How did you get here?"

Conquering Storm shot back. "I was abducted, you?"

A section of the ceiling came crashing down between them. Fiona shook her head. "Forget it, let's get the fuck out of here." Fiona helped Conquering Storm out and climbed out after her. They hurried around to the front of the house and watched as it collapsed in the flames. Fiona shook her head, trying to keep from crying. She told herself that it didn't matter that much, but it kept coming back. She had settled down, tried to live a normal life, but everything seemed against her here.

Conquering Storm tapped Fiona on the shoulder. "Uh... you should see this."

Fiona glared at her. "What?" Her tone was cutting and tense.

The Lynx pointed up. Fiona followed her finger to the Death Egg. A large gaping hole had opened in the battle stations underside. There was a red glow coming from it as it charged up. Fiona's breath escaped her. She backed up fearfully, trying to find some words, but only one came to mind.

This word is instinctively built into every living creature at the most basic, primal levels. At this moment, it filled Fiona's head. Though, she can't be blamed, because what she was seeing was the main cannon of the Death Egg, and that name is not in vain.

"Run."

Fiona had just turned and begun running when the cannon fired. The ground shook in a way it never had before. Buildings, solid and deep-rooted, flew out of their foundations as they were hit by the shockwave. Fiona and Conquering Storm were knocked off their feet when the massive wall of heat and air hit them. Fiona was conscious that the blast had set a number of the surrounding building on fire, simply shattering most of the rest. The Ring was in flames.

In the control room on the Death Egg, Eggman sat cackling aloud. "It works! The flames are brilliant! How many do you think died?"

Lien-da glanced behind her, trying to hide her distaste for his appetite for destruction. "Hundreds, maybe a thousand or two. They had grown accustomed to the Death Egg's presence, but it's still not a densely populated area."

Eggman nodded. "And now it never will be. Well, it was a good testing ground. Set course for Knothole! Full steam ahead!"

Fiona pulled herself up, wiping her hand across her forehead to get rid of what felt like sweat. She pulled her hand back to find it stained with red. She swore and stood, looking around for Conquering Storm.

Nearby, the Lynx was seated with her legs spread wide. She had her hands hidden under her long ears, Fiona could see blood dripping from her ears. Fiona grabbed the Lynx by her shirt and threw her against a barely standing wall that quickly collapsed under the weight. Fiona grabbed her again and held her against a sturdier wall.

"You work for Eggman, his empire. You knew this was gonna happen?"

The Lynx shook her head. "I don't know what you're saying. I can't hear you."

Fiona threw her at the ground and knocked her out with a punch. She walked out into the street, trying to figure out the best way to contact Tails. They needed to talk.

Conquering Storm opened her eyes. Her face hurt, but that was to be expected since Fiona had just punched her. She tried to move, but it felt like something was on top of her. Her eyes focused and she saw Li Moon standing over her.

"Hello again. I thought you'd be dead by now. Here, let me help." Conquering Storm tried to protest, tried to fight back, but quickly realized she couldn't move. Li Moon reached down and grabbed her head, twisting it to the side. There was a slight crack and the Lynx stopped moving. Li Moon's ears twitched and she looked in the direction Fiona had gone. "Good job, you led me straight to her. Saves me some work." She moved away silently to tail her rival Vixen.


	4. All The King's Men

The ground shook. Sally looked to the horizon, in the direction of the Ring. Behind Sally, Nicole droned out her readings. She sounded bored.

"The Death Egg has finally fired. Estimated approximately fifteen-hundred dead. The Ring is going to be impossible to use for a long while." Sally turned to face Nicole's hologram when her voice started carrying concern. "Chaos radiation is off the charts. The blast is equal to the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds… but he couldn't possibly have all of them."

Sally nodded. "Because we have one. What then?"

"Ruling out all other possibilities, Sally. Sol Emeralds would radiate more heat. Anarchy Beryl exists in the quantities required, but does not emit Chaos radiation. Analysis suggests a Super Emerald."

Sally sighed. "Great. I wish we had Sonic with us…"

"Sally. Incoming transmission from Knothole. It's your father."

"Wonderful."

Nicole projected an image of Sally's father. She expected concern, maybe annoyance. All she saw on his face was determination. He smiled a little when he saw her.

"I am relieved to see that you are well, dear daughter."

"Yeah, me too. Are you going to ask me to come home, cause I can't do that. We have an emergency here, and the Freedom Fighters need to lend a hand."

Sally's father held up a placating hand. "Calm down, Sally. I only called to let you know that I'm coming with you. Geoffrey St. John will be accompanying me."

"Marvellous."

"We'll be meeting Robotnik in battle, our fleet to his. I want you and the Freedom Fighters on the flagship." He paused, noticing Sally seemed lost for words. "We do have a fleet of airships. Not quite as big as his Egg Carriers, but not run by his bumbling Egg Pawns either. We stand a fair chance against his armada, otherwise I wouldn't be ordering all ships to launch."

Sally shook her head. "We need Sonic. You need to let us find him."

"Sally…"

"He's the only one capable of taking out something like the Death Egg. We need him."

"Alright, send half your team after him. But I want you with me on the flagship."

Sally smiled. She shrugged. "Alright. Nicole will give you our coordinates. You can come pick us up. We'll be waiting."

"It could be four to six hours, so get comfortable. And be careful."

"I will, Daddy."

Nicole cut the transmission after sending their coordinates to the other end of the line. She looked to Sally. "Who are you sending after Sonic?"

Sally glanced at the rest of the team. They were camped on the edge of a canyon a few miles from Freedom HQ. They could see the Death Egg clearly, along with the carnage on the ground below it.

Sally walked over to them and sat down. "My father's gonna be here with a fleet in about five hours. Rotor and Antoine are coming with me and Nicole. We're gonna be on the flagship with him. Bunnie, Amy, and Mina, I want you three to go find Sonic. He's probably right down there near the Death Egg, so he shouldn't be hard to find. Use the Gears we dug out of Freedom HQ. If, at any point, you think you can cause some damage to Eggman's fleet without putting yourselves in danger, then do it. Under no circumstances do I want you doing anything foolish. Bunnie, I expect you to make sure Mina and Amy stay safe. Understood?"

All those present nodded in agreement, save Antoine. He seemed concerned for Bunnie's safety, but said nothing. The rest of them prepared for the wait, rolling out their sleeping pads in order to get a quick nap.

Sally leaned forward. "Excuse me?"

Bunnie, who was already lounging, looked at the princess, her friend, surprised. "What?"

Sally laughed indignantly. "Go!"

Amy was the only one who hadn't decided to try and take a rest first. She stood, leaning on her hammer, glaring at Mina and Bunnie. "Move it! We need to find Sonic!"

Bunnie flailed haphazardly, though quite likely she was playing it up, and rolled to her feet while dropping an expletive no one present had ever used before. "Which Gear do Ah get?"

Amy grabbed one from the small stack. "The pink one's mine. You can have the yellow one. Mina, you get the red one."

Mina stopped and glared at the red Gear Amy was handing her. "There is a purple one, y'know? I'd look better with that."

"Exactly, take the red one. We wouldn't want Sonic thinking you're cute before he sees me."

"You're a b-"

"What?!"

"Beautiful young lady…"

"I thought so." Amy ran off. Bunnie grinned at Mina and shrugged before running after her. Mina followed at a slower pace, mumbling silent threats of non-silent threats.

Sally watched them go, wondering where Bunnie had heard that word, what it meant, and if she should pick it up. She was brought back to focus by Nicole… sort of.

"Sally, what does "fuck" mean?"

Antoine answered. "It is a 'uman term. A vile one at zat. I will be saying no more about it. T'sough I am wondering where Bunnie got it from."

Nicole blushed. "I… may have… downloaded some mature rated videos from some human networks…" She shrugged and smiled innocently, clasping her hands in front of her.

Rotor spoke without thinking, not something he was known for. "Any good ones?" He looked up and noticed Sally's stare of shock. He raised his hands in defence. "Hey, I mean… comparatively."

Nicole shifted her hands behind her back, her eyes looking everywhere except Sally. "Well, only a few of them were rated X… most were R or 18A. There were a few unrated ones." She went silent as she screened them in her CPU. It took a fraction of the time and no one talked during the exciting parts. She stopped halfway through, looking thoroughly horrified.

Sally looked up at Nicole, noting the face. "That bad, eh?"

"I'm fairly certain most of those actions are detrimental to propagation…"

"Delete all those files. Right now."

Nicole glanced down at Sally. "Are you sure? Some of them are listed as educational."

"Like what?"

"Kama Sutra?"

Sally slapped her hand across her face, grimacing. "Yes, all of them."

Nicole sighed. "Well, okay. But don't you think that would be a good word to use? I think it flows."

"Sacre bleu… don't." Antoine covered his ears, dreading what was to come.

"Why? Why not? I'm a living, thinking, breathing, Freedom Fighter, minus the breathing, I can say whatever I want to." She punctuated the sentence by saying the word again.

Sally could tell Nicole was playing with them, but it needed to stop. "Nicole, how old are you? Really?"

"What?"

"How old are you?"

"Uh… well, you mean physically? Accounting for time travel?" Sally nodded. Nicole fidgeted. "Well, uh… technically… fourteen… I guess."

"And what are those movies rated?" Sally grinned up at Nicole in triumph.

Nicole slumped in defeat. "But I'm… 18A?"

Sally nodded again, driving her point home. "The language is part of the reason for that. Now please, everyone get some rest. Nicole, you have first and second watch. We won't be here longer than that."

Rotor and Antoine flopped onto their sleeping pads almost immediately. Sally had one more quick look around the campsite before she curled up on her own sleeping pad. It was a minute or two later when Sally suddenly jerked awake. Something cold had hit her. She checked herself, making sure no assassination had occurred and she just hadn't felt the pain yet. Once she determined only friends were present, she tried to go back to sleep. It was a difficult task. Something felt off, like someone was going to die. She was naturally worried about Bunnie, Mina, and Amy, but this felt more directed toward her. It felt like she was going to die. She shuddered silently, realizing that the cold stabbing feeling was centred on her heart. Was it a premonition?

Fiona knocked on the Spectre's main hatch. It had taken her an annoyingly long time to find the ship, but once she saw it there was no mistaking it. She had found Tails. Now she just needed to find out what he was going to do about the Death Egg. She was startled by a voice from behind her.

"Good job. You led me straight to him. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the both of you."

Fiona's heartbeat sped up rapidly, her breathing became erratic and panicky. She couldn't believe it was him. Tails had killed him, she was sure. Footsteps traced a path up the ramp. He was right behind her.

"I know, you're probably surprised. I mean, who would have guessed I'd come after you, right?"

Fiona managed to rationalize it. The situation still wasn't favourable, but at least she wasn't dealing with a zombie. It was Sonic, thankfully not Scourge. She took a deep breath. "Look. I don't want to fight you. Neither does Tails. Right now, we need to focus on Eggman. Saving lives is the first objective here, right?" She turned around, still not sure how to face Sonic. Her heart skipped a beat, a few actually, when she realized the eyes she was staring into were blue.

"Wrong."


	5. Cornered Animals

Li Moon watched the encounter from a nearby roof. The Spectre below her was parked well away from the center of the Ring, and so the local damage was minimal if there was any. She saw everything that occurred, and took it all in with a good deal of pleasure. The green Hedgehog had Fiona cornered.

The Hedgehog himself was a sight to behold. He was normal size for a Mobian, but the way he held himself made him appear much larger and far more threatening. The leather jacket made him look a bit like a common thug, but Fiona seemed more than afraid of him.

Then he lurched forward, smashing his head into Fiona's face, bashing the back of her head into the door. She slid down the door and crumpled at the bottom. He grabbed her and tossed her off the ramp, watching her tumble across the pavement and accumulate cuts and scrapes head to tail. He laughed viciously and leaped after her.

Up on her perch Li Moon was in a giggling fit. It only escalated when she noticed the blood smear on the door. That Hedgehog had some serious power behind him. She was considering calling down to him to see if they could strike a deal when someone behind her grabbed her shirt. Before she could react, she had been hauled over the edge of the roof. When she hit the ground, she could feel something had broken. It was either her rib or her leg, possibly both plus her nose.

Around the front of the Spectre, Scourge laughed as Fiona tried to get to her feet. He walked over to her casually before grabbing her by the neck and belt and heaving her at the cockpit window of the Spectre.

Inside the Spectre, Tails had barely stirred at the sound of Fiona's head hitting the door. He eventually woke up, glancing around and wondering if he had imagined that noise. Then Fiona hit the window. Tails jumped up and headed for the door. He knew it was her, and he had to help no matter who was attacking her. He was halfway down the ramp when he saw Li Moon on the ground. She struggled to her feet and spat blood from her mouth. She paused for a moment before looking up at him.

"Tails?" Her face was a mixture of confusion, anger, and… love?

He walked down the rest of the ramp cautiously. "Li Moon? What are you doing here?"

She smiled, though her smiled was checked by pain. "I came… to look for you."

"Does your grandfather know?"

Before Li Moon could answer, Fiona came staggering towards them from the front of the Spectre. "Tails! Help! He's alive!"

Tails' mind raced through a list of people they thought were dead. "Who, Nack? Tex?" He was cut short as Scourge followed Fiona into his line of sight. The green Hedgehog was grinning almost ear to ear, and he was very much alive.

"Hey, big guy! It's about time you woke up. Me and my new team were looking forward to taking you down." He put two fingers to his mouth and whistled. Within seconds three birds riding Gears landed beside him, skidding to a stop.

Tails eyes narrowed. He stepped in front of Fiona, blocking Scourge's path to her. The Vixen had a brief moment where she locked eyes with Li Moon. The youngest Fox of the three shook her head, indicating that now wasn't the time for any explanations. In front of them, Tails growled at the newcomers.

"Babylon Rogues. Is that the best you could come up with, Scourge?"

Then, behind the small group of Foxes, another voice called out to them. "Them and him… they are a considerable force to deal with. But they're far from all I've got working for me."

Tails cringed. Li Moon froze. Fiona twitched irritably. They all knew that grating voice. It was Snively. Tails growled again. "What do you want?"

Fiona turned around, pulling her gun out of it's holster. "Better question…" She saw what she was up against and slowly placed the gun on the ground. "…Uh… would it be possible to talk our way out of this?"

Snively sat smugly in the cockpit of a large robot wielding two large arm cannons. On either side of him were smaller robots with equally disconcerting pilots. One was that Lynx from earlier, the Conquering Storm. The other was Monkey Khan. Snively considered a few options and, having made a decision, answered Fiona's question first.

"Of the three of you, I'd say only one of you can talk your way out of this. But that depends solely on what you do next. All you have to do is hand the others over to us. I'll forgive what you did to my operative…" He nodded towards Conquering Storm. "…if you subdue Miles Prower and Fiona Fox right now."

Tails turned to Li Moon, his face a picture of shock. "You… you're with them?"

"I guess that means I get to beat all ten of you to a pulp!"

All eyes turned to the roof of the nearest building, where Li Moon had been hiding. Amy stood on the edge, thoroughly enjoying the situation at hand. She wasn't entirely sure about beating on Tails, but the effect was greater if she threatened all of them. She was too enraptured by the impending battle to even notice when Mina and Bunnie landed on either side of her.

Scourge rolled his eyes. "Oh no, the pink thing. I'm so scared."

Bunnie morphed her arm into it's cannon form and aimed it at Scourge. "Maybe this'll scare ya good, ya green sonuva-"

Scourge disappeared in a crack of sound, running straight up the side of the building and dislodging Bunnie and Amy. He landed behind Mina and shoved her over the edge without the slightest effort. Tails shoved Li Moon aside and caught Mina as Bunnie landed a few feet away, catching Amy. Setting Mina down, he turned to Snively.

"You want to get wise before someone gets hurt. Cause I promise you that no one will be hurt worse than you."

Snively laughed loudly, causing Fiona to flatten her ears against her head. "You don't seem to realize how much of a disadvantage you're at, Tails. It's my Royal Flush to your pair of fives." He snapped his fingers. Conquering Storm and Monkey Khan exited their mechs and began circling on the ground. Snively grinned confidently. "Even my dear old uncle couldn't hope to take you on at your best. However, this wonderful machine I am in right now emits a special signal, and you're going to love this, that effectively turns off chaos based powers. Do you know what that means?"

Tails knew what it meant. It meant he couldn't even fly. His tails were just normal fluffy appendages attached to his rear. Even so, he was already working out a plan… and he had a card up his sleeve. He smiled. "Snively, you worthless pointy-nosed witless wimpy deranged tiny mad toad…" Each word enraging Snively more. "…look behind you."

Despite his anger, Snively did. He yelped with surprise as Espio came into view. The Chameleon pulled him out of the mech and tossed him overboard. He nodded to Tails and returned to invisibility.

Snively hit the ground and quickly began screaming at the group he had assembled. "Kill the Freedom Fighters! Kill them all now!"

Jet, Scourge, and Monkey Khan all moved at once. The rest were mere milliseconds behind them. Monkey Khan's staff met Amy's hammer, knocking both back. Bunnie rocketed into the air, making sure to deliver a strong kick to Jet's jaw. The Falcon spun, but didn't fall off his Gear. Mina tried to run but found her speed gone, an effect of Snively's jamming signal. Scourge plowed into her, knocking her across the pavement. Tails leapt over Jet as he sped by in the opposite direction, kicking both the other Babylon Rogues in the face. He landed and turned to see Snively's war machine collapse, it's mechanisms sabotaged by Espio. The Shinobi ninja joined the fray even as the machine erupted in flames.

Conscious of Snively's horrified screeches, Tails turned to chase after Li Moon. The young Vixen was slinking away from the fight, moments away from disappearing around the corner of the building. Both were thrown backwards by a sonic boom as a familiar blue streak entered the scene.

For a brief moment, the fighting stopped. Scourge swore. Snively gasped. Amy swooned. Bunnie cheered. Sonic stood before them, mentally targeting his foes and working his moves around his friends. Unfortunately, he counted Fiona amongst his foes.

The first spindash knocked Conquering Storm down. The second one spun Fiona round. She cried out in pain, gripping the deep gash on her shoulder. Before Sonic could aim for another enemy Scourge bolted toward Fiona, enacting his own spindash.

Coming from out of nowhere, Knuckles the Echidna landed in Scourge's path. He punched once, knocking Scourge to the ground. "Was this a bad time to drop by?"

Tails ran over eagerly. "Your timing is perfect! Vector send you?"

Knuckles grabbed Scourge and threw him at Snively, who screamed and dived out of the way. "He told me where you were. I saw this scuffle going on and decided to help. Let's draw the battle lines. Who's on which side?"

Tails stood beside Knuckles and watched as the two sides divided, facing each other. What had started as an ambush had turned into straight warfare. Bunnie helped Mina into the line beside Tails. Espio joined them quickly, facing the enemy with confidence.

Across from them, the Babylon Rogues floated in the air on top of their Gears. Conquering Storm scowled at anyone who would look her direction. Monkey Khan growled and charged his staff menacingly. Scourge shoved his way to the front as Snively cowered behind everyone.

Sonic stood in the middle, noting that Fiona had taken a spot next to Tails. Amy dragged Li Moon to the conflict, throwing her in towards the enemy. Li Moon slowly pulled herself to her feet, realizing she had no other choice but to join Snively's team. Sonic watched her shrink in behind Conquering Storm. Then he turned to Tails.

"So it comes down to this, eh?" This seemed to get reactions of confusion from everyone, Amy most of all.

Knuckles clued in first. He shook his fist at the Hedgehog. "Hey, whose side are you on?"

Amy clasped her hands, begging him to help. Sonic shook his head. He looked to Tails. "I came to stop you Tails. What you're doing is wrong."

Tails looked over to Fiona briefly. When he looked back to Sonic, he spoke with an authority Sonic had never heard come from him before. "Pick a side or get out of the way."

Sonic wasn't a happy Hedgehog. He had spent the past year hunting Tails down. When he had finally found him, half the Freedom Fighters were helping him fight a load of villains. Sonic wouldn't normally have thought twice about spindashing any one of them, but he knew what Tails was here to do. "You're gonna kill them, aren't you?"

Tails was still for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Yes. Yes I am."

Sonic took a step backwards. "Even Li Moon?" Tails paused for longer before finally nodding. Li Moon gasped, though it went unheard to anyone further away than Sonic. The blue Hedgehog, the hero of Mobius, took another step back towards Snively. Towards the Babylon Rogues. Towards Scourge. "And if I join them… are you gonna kill me too?"

Everyone and everything went silent. Amy was crying as Sonic took another step back. Tails was shocked, though he didn't know how to show it. Knuckles' mind was racing, trying to figure out what had led to this. Li Moon was torturing herself in her mind, trying to explain away what Tails had just admitted to. Mina tried to convince herself to leave, not wanting to have any part in killing, but only found herself agreeing with Tails more and more. Scourge was laughing victoriously in his mind, knowing how quickly things would turn around if he did so out loud.

And then Sonic the Hedgehog was standing beside Scourge the Hedgehog, ready to fight his former friends.


	6. Blood Bond

Some bonds can never be broken. These are the strongest bonds, the ones that no distance or pressure can break. These are the bonds that hold two people together, no matter what happens.

The signal lets one know that the other has something planned. That the bond truly is unbreakable. Sometimes, a signal is all that one needs to change their mind, their heart, and their side on the battlefield.

The signal can be as simple as a wink, like the one that passed from Fox to Hedgehog across a terrifying scene. In a split second, eight antagonists found themselves flying back from an electric blue shockwave, hitting the ground various distances away from the epicenter.

Knuckles shielded his eyes briefly. "Crap… you could have warned me!"

Sonic chuckled, tossing the cyan Chaos Emerald in the air and catching it. "And tip 'em off? As if!" Sonic was silenced by a flying pink glomp.

Amy tackled him, trying to get a kiss through his flailing arms to his mouth. "I knew you were bluffing! You'd never side yourself with those jerks!"

Snively began screeching in terror. "Damn you, Sonic! You let him out!"

Everyone turned to see Monkey Khan stalking towards Snively, an enraged snarl on his face. Sonic zipped between them, stopping Khan.

"Hold it, buddy. Killing him's not gonna solve anything."

The Monkey king waved Sonic away. "He was mind-controlling me! Get outta the way! You have no idea what he made me do!"

"Yeah, right. Duck!" Sonic pulled Khan to the ground just as Scourge spindashed overhead.

The green Hedgehog bounced off the ground and homed in on Tails, the next nearest target. Tails jumped over him, driving his foot into the Scourge's back and sending him skidding across the pavement on his face.

Tails turned to Sonic. "We'll play this your way. You take Scourge. Khan, you get Jet."

Sonic nodded, cracking his knuckles. "With pleasure."

Khan grunted, turning to the Babylon Rogues. "I'll get him. What of the other two?"

Tails was busy with the others. "Knuckles, Storm is all yours."

Knuckles chuckled. "Groovy."

"Espio, can you take Conquering Storm?"

Espio shot off towards the Lynx, only offering a quick nod.

"Bunnie, think Wave's in your league?"

"Sho' do, sugah!" She followed Khan and Knuckles.

Tails smirked at Amy, Mina. "You girls go get Snively." He watched as Snively squealed and ran from the pink Hedgehog with a hammer. Fiona tapped him on the shoulder.

"What about… her?"

Tails followed Fiona's finger to Li Moon. She was leaning against the corner of a building, nursing her head. Noticing the attention, she ducked around the corner. Tails and Fiona were on her heels until a deafening rumble froze the battle.

Everyone looked up to see one of Eggman's airships bursting into flames, shrapnel and debris flying in all directions. A dozen rockets crashed into another airship, destroying it as well. Tails turned his focus to the horizon, where another fleet hovered in the air. Laser and plasma pulsed from all the cannons in both armadas as Eggman's forces opened fire. Rockets and missiles left trails of smoke behind them, slamming into opposing ships and tearing gaping holes in the sides. The Mobian Air Force had arrived.

* * *

Eggman was furious. Lien-da ducked under a chunk of piping that bounced off her control console, leaving enough damage to ruin the equipment. She turned to look at him, waiting to find out what he wanted her to do.

"Sir, there was no way to know they had a fleet that size. We still outnumber them anyway."

Eggman settled down. "Fine. Contact the Egg Carriers. Have them open fire."

"Yes sir!" She rolled her seat to a different station, one that worked, and began relaying the message.

* * *

The Egg Carriers began charging their main cannons, blue energy crackling around the tips of the massive guns. Tails knew what they were capable of. The more time they were given, the more people would die.

He turned to Fiona. "Go to the Spectre. Get the Gears. They're the best chance of getting on those things." Fiona nodded and ran off. Tails turned back to Li Moon. "Now it's time for some answers. Why are you here?"

She was backing away slowly, her features showing a strange mix of emotions. She swallowed forcedly. "I only wanted to be with you, Tails. That's all there is."

"Why did you leave home? Where's your grandfather?"

"When was the last time you were in the Dragon Kingdom, Tails? Five years ago? Seven? Robotnik destroyed it all. Khan has been brainwashed for years. The clans have been beaten down to nothing."

Tails took a few steps closer, trying to keep Li Moon close enough that he could grab her. "Li Moon, what are you doing here?"

"My grandfather is dead, Tails. He's been dead for years. There was nothing left for me there."

Tails jumped forward and grabbed her wrist. She tried to fight him off but he held her arm closer, making it harder for her to resist. He asked one more time. "Why are you here?"

She was silent for a moment, their eyes meeting. He searched her eyes, finding grief and sorrow, but also rage. Then she spoke. "I'm like you, Tails."

Tails broke eye contact. "I used to think so… but now I'm not so sure."

"When there's something that needs to be done, you do it. It doesn't matter what the others will think of you. It's gotta be done, and you're the one to do it."

"What do you mean."

"I…" She seemed unsure of how to say something, or if she should say it at all. "I killed the Iron Queen and King." Tails froze. He had no idea how to react to that. Disbelief showed on his face. The Iron King was invincible. He was about to ask her how when she spoke again. "I love you."

This surprised him even more, though he wasn't sure why. He managed to choke out a simple word. "What?"

She brushed her hand against his cheek. "Our relationship doesn't matter. We can work through it."

"What relationship, Li Moon? I… I don't even know you anymore. You killed…" The words stuck in Tails' throat. He was about to tell her that what she had done was wrong. What had he done? "I killed…" Then he realized he didn't even know himself anymore.

Around them, the battle continued. The Babylon Rogues flew overhead on their Gears, followed closely by Bunnie and Monkey Khan. Sonic and Scourge sped past, trading blows and taunts. Amy and Mina grabbed their own Gears and handed Bunnie's to Knuckles. The three joined in chasing the Babylon Rogues.

Fiona ran up behind Tails with their own Gears. "I got them… Tails? You okay?"

Li Moon whispered to Tails. "I want to tell you a secret."

Fiona called Tails again, but he ignored her. He whispered back. "What secret?"

"My parents are still alive."

"What? How do you know?"

"They live in Mobotropolis."

"How… when did you find out."

"When my grandfather died… he told me."

Fiona didn't know whether she should be worried or not. Tails was more than a match for this girl, but they knew eachother. Maybe she knew something about him Fiona didn't. Maybe, just maybe, he loved her. That was more than enough incentive to step in. "Tails! Let's get moving!"

Tails turned to glance at Fiona. "Just a sec!" He turned back to Li Moon. "Who are they, Li Moon?"

She laughed, a tear appearing in her eye. "You should know. They're your parents too."

* * *

Sonic had lost Scourge. The green Hedgehog could be anywhere in the Ring. Sonic had one shot to find him. The blue blur skidded to a halt in a small alleyway. The buildings on either side had been leveled, but Sonic's cache hadn't been affected. He started digging through it, pushing a spare ring and a pendant aside and pulling a bottle of red tea and an extra change of shoes out of the box. Reaching in, he pulled out a blue Gear. He put everything else back in and launched into the air to look for Scourge. It seems Scourge had a similar cache, as the first thing Sonic saw was his rival on a green Gear heading straight for him.


	7. Skies On Fire

Sally stood looking over the edge of the ship. The ground below was green and lush for now, but that would soon change. She glanced up, looking across the battlefield. Arcs of laser fire and lines of smoke filled the air around the ship. Even though she was standing on the launch deck she was perfectly safe so long as the shields held.

"Dreadful thing, war."

Sally turned to see a Mobian Fox. He was only a bit taller than her, blonde hair falling around his shoulders. He was wearing a guard uniform with a sergeant insignia. He smiled at her, confirming her assumption that he had something he wanted to say to her.

She nodded to him. "Dreadful, yes. But I guess it's necessary sometimes."

An overhead speaker blared a warning about enemy fighters. He ushered her away from the edge of the deck. "We should go inside. Your father will be wanting you."

Sally stepped through the corridor leading away from the deck and turned around. The guard had left to carry out his duties elsewhere. Without giving it a second thought, she continued to the bridge.

When she arrived her father greeted her from the command chair. "Sally, just when we needed you. I was about to send someone to get you. We have someone trying to contact us with a Freedom Fighter frequency. Someone you may know."

He pointed to a communications station. Sally excused the officer seated at the station and sat down, putting on the headset. "Hello?"

_"Sally? Is that you?"_ The voice that came through was muffled by the sounds of wind rushing by, but was still easily recognizable.

Sally fiddled with the instruments on the console, cutting the interference nearly in half. "Tails? Where are you? What's going on?"

_"I'm in the air. We're using Gears. I've got Fiona and Li Moon with me. We're trying to find the others."_

Sally turned to look at the view screen at the front of the bridge. "Who all exactly are you looking for?"

_"We saw Amy, Bunnie, and Mina. I think they're with Knuckles. Sonic and the Chaotix might still be on the ground. Monkey Khan's probably smashing one of Eggman's ships as we speak."_

Sally gave a thumbs up in the direction of her father. "Dad, Sonic's on the field. I doubt he hasn't seen Eggman yet, so he'll be in the fray." She went back to the conversation when her father acknowledged. "Okay, Tails. You're all on Gears. What sort of opposition are you facing in that area?"

_"Other people on Gears? Conquering Storm and the Babylon Rogues. Scourge might have one too, but he's probably too busy fighting Sonic."_

She looked back at her father briefly. "Alright, give me a moment. I'll be right out to help."

_"You got it, Sally."_

She cut the connection and walked off the bridge. She stepped silently onto the launch deck and opened an equipment locker, pulling out her own Gear. She was about to take off when someone called out to her.

"Hey! Can I come?"

Sally looked for the source of the voice only to find it was another Gear. She was about to question if she had actually heard anything when a holographic image appeared on the Gear. Nicole's image sprang to life in front of her.

Sally laughed in surprise. "I hate to tell you this, but you're not gonna be able to do much out there."

Nicole waved her hand over her form and her costume changed into a tight fitting flight-suit. "I designed this Gear. This image is solid light, so I can totally trade blows with anybody. It'll be fun, trust me."

Sally shrugged. "Alright, but don't expect me to hold your hand." Sally turned and was about to take off when a sharp sting struck her in the chest. She doubled over in pain. Nicole floated over on her Gear and helped her up.

"You okay? Do you need me to take you to the med bay?"

The pain was gone, but it still felt like something was pushing against her heart, squeezing it. Sally looked up and saw the Fox sergeant from before. He was standing right in front of her.

Sally shook her head. "I'm fine. Just give me a moment."

The Fox smiled. "Glad to hear it. We're gonna need you out on the field today. You gotta make sure your team does their part, cause we can't stand up to something like the Death Egg."

Sally smiled back at him. "Thanks for the support. We'll do our job." She stood up, taking a few deep breaths. "Alright, I'm ready."

Nicole clapped. "Then let's go." She reached her hands forward dramatically and launched off the deck.

Sally was about to follow, but turned to the sergeant first. "I didn't catch your name earlier…"

He spoke over his shoulder as he walked away. "It's Zak. Now go. They need you out there."

With that, Sally flew out into the battle. She could still feel it in her chest, but she made up her mind that if this was where she died, she would make it count. In that moment, she decided that Eggman would die. If her death was what it took, then it wouldn't be in vain.

* * *

Li Moon hung back as Tails and Fiona rocketed ahead of her. She had to slip away when they wouldn't notice. When they swooped low over the remains of the ring, she ducked sideways and landed between two buildings. She jumped off the Gear and carried it, running down alleys and across streets.

She eventually ducked into a house and pulled a small device from her pocket. She placed one end in her ear, positioning the other end just in front of her mouth. "Do you have a minute for an update?"

There was a brief moment of silence. Then _"Do you?"_

She hissed into the headset. "I'm dodging behind my brother's back to make this call. You gonna give me an update or what?"

There was a sound like a sigh. _"So you found him, eh? Good for you. I told you you'd find him. …right, update. The princess and her hologram are entering the battle. This changes things a little. You're job is to make sure she doesn't get herself killed."_

"That's it? Protect the princess? Do you want me to fight some Turtles while I'm at it? I could wear a green tunic too, you want that?"

_"Humorous, but no. There's just one other thing. Kill Fiona Fox, if you will."_ Li Moon froze. Her mind raced around the idea. What would Tails do if she killed Fiona? Would he try to kill her? Would he ever speak to her? _"You got that?"_

She hated it, but she had to do it. "Yes, I got it. …So when do I get to know who you are?"

There was a laugh from the other end. _"Who I am? Let's just say… we're related, I guess. I'm cutting the line. You've got company."_

Li Moon pocketed the radio and turned to the doorway. Before she could decide what "company" meant, the door flew open and Knuckles floated in on his Gear. She backed away, not sure if he had heard her conversation or how much had actually been audible.

Knuckles reached his hand out to her. "You're not gonna be helpful down here. We've got some work to do."

She nodded and jumped back onto her Gear. "Are we going after the Babylon Rogues then?"

Knuckles grinned, bumping her shoulder gently. "We're going after Eggman's entire fleet. Tails has a plan to blow up the Death Egg."

They launched out of the building and into the air. Li Moon had to raise her voice for Knuckles to hear her. "Has Princess Sally joined us?"

Knuckles looked over at her. "Sally? Why do you need to know?"

Li Moon rolled her eyes. "I met her in the Dragon Kingdom. We're friends."

He nodded understandingly. "Fair enough. She and Nicole just entered the battle on Gears. They've got most of the others running interference with Scourge and the Rogues while Tails works out his explosion plan."

"…Right. Explosion plan…" Li Moon wasn't sure she wanted to get caught up in the battle. She had to protect Sally and kill Fiona. She would have to hear the plan to know if she could work around it, but she didn't want to think of what she would have to do if she couldn't.

* * *

Zak watched the battle raging in the air around the ship. Every now and then one of Eggman's ships would collapse to the ground in flames. He was sure there were ample casualties on the Mobian side as well, but it made no difference to him. He had no interest in the common people.

A voice sounded from behind him. "Dreadful thing, war."

Zak smiled. That line was the signal. He turned to the speaker, a much younger Fox with a more golden fur color. He had his two tails wrapped together behind him, the energies he controlled making them appear as one.

Zak shrugged and looked back to the battle. "It's useful too. Tell me then, why is it you want Fiona dead?"

The other Fox shook his head. "That's not something you need to know."

"Would you not tell Maximilian the reason for killing Sally?"

"No, but I want Sally alive."

"And you wouldn't tell Amadeus and Rosemary the reason if you were going to kill Li Moon?"

"No."

Zak sighed. "Is there really no other way, besides killing Fiona?"

"Not that I can think of."

Zak nodded. Now he knew where he stood. "Then I guess we're at odds. I'm going to use your agent against you, and make sure you never kill my daughter."


	8. Clear The Air

Snively watched the battle from the bridge of the Death Egg. The Mobians were outnumbered, but could conceivably win with the damage they had already inflicted on Eggman's fleet. Snively didn't particularly like the situation, but his uncle had demanded he stay on the bridge.

He noticed something on one of the screens that made him smile. He turned to his uncle. "Princess Sally has joined the battle. Why don't we aim all our weapons toward her?"

Eggman pounded the arm of his chair and turned to Snively, his face red with rage. "Why don't we?" He called to the bridge crew. "Order all batteries on all ships to fire on Maximilian's daughter! Once she's vaporized, locate Amy Rose and take her out too! I want Sonic to hurt! Then he will come and face me directly!"

Snively tugged at his collar as the orders were sent out. It wasn't exactly what he had had in mind, but it would be interesting to watch.

* * *

Sally watched Knuckles approach with the young Vixen in tow. She asked when they were close enough to hear her. "Li Moon? Is that you?"

Li Moon smiled. "Hey, Sally. What's the plan?"

Tails floated closer on his own Gear. "I've been able to determine exactly where we need to plant the explosive. It should destroy one of the power capacitors, causing an overload in the systems. There's two problems."

Nicole joined them. "I've noticed, Tails. For it to work, the Death Egg is going to have to be firing it's main cannon. That's the largest power consumer aboard the Death Egg, and the most likely to cause an overload. Eggman's using a Super Emerald in the Death Egg's core. It'll pump more power to the capacitor, but there will be no capacitor to catch it. End result: explosion."

Tails nodded. "Alright. The problem is that the cannon won't fire after we destroy the capacitor. We need to take down the fail-safe systems that will shut it down in the event of capacitor failure…"

"Or capacitor explosion." Li Moon added.

Tails chuckled. "Right. Then nothing will stop the power from flooding the system. Catastrophic failure for Eggman means historic victory for us."

Knuckles looked around, sure he had missed something. "Wait, if the cannon is firing won't all the power go to that instead of the capaci-thingy?"

Tails grinned and put a hand on Knuckles' shoulder. "The power goes through the capacitor first. If the core sent power straight to the cannon, he could burn out the core. How about you leave the mechanics to me, Knux?"

Knuckles nodded. "Okay, and what explosive are we using?"

"That'd be me." Nicole shrugged when everyone looked at her. "I still maintain a presence in Knothole and Mobotropolis, so I'll be fine. I can get in and detonate before Eggman knows what we're up to."

Sally held up a finger. "I'm not gonna let you do this alone, even if you will be fine. Besides, we can move faster if you get to the capacitor while I cut the fail-safe."

To Tails' surprise, it was Li Moon that spoke up in concern for Sally first. "You're going to want to get out of there as quickly as possible once you cut it though. Otherwise you'll have a Death Egg-sploding all around you."

Sally grinned. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Just after she finished speaking, Eggman's entire fleet ceased fire. Eggman's voice boomed out over the battlefield as he issued his order.

"ALL BATTERIES FIRE AT SALLY ACORN! EXTERMINATE HER!"

Sally went pale. "Oh, shit…"

* * *

Sonic looked to Monkey Khan, who was acting as his wing-man at the moment. "Ken! Eggman's going after Sally! I gotta get to her before something bad happens. Forget about Scourge for now. Can you take out some of those guns?"

Monkey Khan nodded. "Alright, Sonic. Keep her safe."

With that, they rocketed in opposite directions. Sonic was getting close to where Sally and the others had gathered when he saw Sally, Nicole, and Tails break off and head for the Death Egg. Knuckles and Li Moon went about harassing one of Eggman's airships.

Seeing the Babylon Rogues closing in from below, Sonic started diving to meet them. He didn't see Scourge until the green Hedgehog rammed into him, slamming him into the side of an airship.

Scourge grabbed Sonic's neck and dragged him along the hull, sending sparks flying. "This'll be some neat fireworks. Don't you agree, blue?"

Sonic grabbed Scourge back, punching him in the face repeatedly. "I don't have time to deal with you." The cyan Chaos Emerald appeared in his hand and he hit Scourge as hard as he could with it.

Scourge swore, releasing Sonic and falling back. Sonic had hoped the blow would knock him out, but this would have to do. Scourge screeched in pain, covering his face with his hands. When he took his hands away, however, Sonic realized what had happened.

Scourge pointed at Sonic. "You are going to pay for that." His face was partly missing, revealing the robotic face beneath.

"You're a machine?"

Scourge nodded, then charged. Sonic moved aside, letting Scourge hit the ship head first. He failed to break through the hull, and before he could reorient himself Sonic had grabbed him from behind.

"Well, that's good to know. Now I can tear you apart without feeling bad about it." He proceeded to rip the robotic Scourge's head off, letting it fall to the ground far below. He then turned back to where Sally was, heading towards her as quickly as his Gear would allow.

* * *

Sally ducked and dodged around streams of laser fire. She have been dead long before now if Tails hadn't been taking down the missiles headed for her. Then the Babylon Rogues had shown up. Storm and Wave were hanging back while Jet closed in on Tails.

Sally called out to him in warning. "Tails! Look out!" Distracted as she was, she was almost hit by a laser blast, which singed her fur at such a close proximity.

Tails whirled around at Sally's voice just in time to see Jet and duck under him. He stopped and called to the Babylon Rogues. "You're gonna want to face me all at once, or you'll stand no chance. I'm playing for keeps."

He saw Jet's reaction. He saw Wave's reaction. Storm didn't really react much. Tails watched as they began circling, keeping his eye on Sally and Nicole the whole while. He knew Jet and Wave would be smart about their moves, but he was counting on them not taking him seriously. Storm wouldn't be as smart, but that meant he would probably be more cautious. Storm did know that Tails was dangerous, he just wasn't sure if Tails was dangerous to him.

Jet moved first. Tails moved out of the way, lifting his Gear above him and slamming it into Jet's legs. Jet squawked, but kept moving. Storm quickly flew by, swinging his fist at Tails as Wave kicked at him from the other side. Tails managed to block the stronger attack, but took the kick in the rib.

Tails back away, making sure he could get all three of his foes in front of him. Jet charged again, but this time Tails didn't dodge. He grabbed the green bird by the shoulders and slashed his Gear in half with his tails. Amid a spray of sparks, Tails flung Jet toward his shocked companions. Storm caught him and kept him from falling, but Wave charged at Tails.

* * *

Snively had noticed something else. "Sir…" He cringed as he said that word, but continued nonetheless. "…now that the Mobian military is all here to see it, maybe you would consider showing them exactly what we are capable of now?"

Eggman glanced over his shoulder at his diminutive nephew. "What _I_ am capable of. This power is mine and mine alone."

Snively shrugged. "If you say so…"

Eggman snorted. "I do. However, you are correct. Fire main cannon!"

Snively arched an eyebrow. "Don't you want to aim it first?"

His portly uncle laughed at this obviously retarded idea. "I'll aim it later. A sustained blast, I can move it up to the enemy fleet's altitude and sweep across the entire area. Plus, who would want to miss the chance of hitting Sonic by not having the main cannon firing?"

"If this was a game I would say you're cheating. But then, you'd disregard me just as much as you would if I said that here."

Eggman nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Damn straight."

* * *

The wide beam of energy erupted, shooting past alarmingly close to Tails. He could feel the temperature rising. He could see Wave charging. In this moment, he made the decision.

Tails spread his arms out at his sides. "You're not going to wish we never met."

When Wave reached him, he spun his Gear and dropped beneath her. He grabbed her pant leg and spun her around, releasing her and sending her flying. She vanished into the wall of energy.

Before Storm could turn to escape with Jet, Tails was on them. "You're not going to hunt me down after you recover."

He wrapped his hand around the Albatross's neck, green flames burning his feathers and skin. Tails squeezed and hard as he could until Storm went limp, then he tore Jet from Storm's Gear and threw him towards the ground.

Jet fell, knowing full well that this was the end. Then Tails grabbed him from behind and pushed him down faster, raising his voice as he spoke. "You're not going to do anything! **You are going to be DEAD!**"

Tails let go and pulled up at the last moment. There was a thud as Jet landed, but Tails didn't hear it. He had already moved on.


	9. Friend Or Foe

"So… when you two getting married?"

Fiona looked over to Bunnie. "What?"

Bunnie shrugged, grinning. "You and Tails. Ya'll gonna get married, right? Please say yes. I love weddings."

Fiona shook her head. "Well, you're as delightfully retarded as ever. We're not getting married."

Bunnie rocketed ahead and stopped in front of Fiona, turning and holding her hand out. Fiona obediently stopped. The were hovering more than a kilometer above the tree line, Fiona on her Gear and Bunnie using her built-in rockets.

Fiona crossed her arms as Bunnie began. "You two ain't goin' through a rough patch in yer relationship now, are you?"

Fiona sighed. "Our relationship is strictly business-related."

Bunnie nodded sarcastically. "I'm sure it is, darlin'." She idly backed up as some laser fire streaked past her. "Do you want it to be more than that though?"

Fiona shrugged. "…I don't know. Maybe… It'd be weird. He's like five years younger than me or something."

"So?"

"It would be creepy!"

Bunnie laughed, bumping Fiona's shoulder with her fist. "That's not the point. All you gotta do is figure out if you love him. He sure as shooting loves you."

Fiona smirked. "That's painfully obvious. Okay, if it'll shut you up, I'll see if it works out." Bunnie grinned. Fiona raised a finger. "But… we have to get out of this mess first."

Bunnie let out a short laugh. She looked down and pointed at the nearest of Eggman's battle cruisers. "Let's start there then." She quickly dived, leaving no room for argument.

As they were closing in on the cruiser, Fiona noticed something. The Death Egg's main cannon was firing continuously straight at the ground, but the whole station was tilting. If it kept going the way it was, the beam would end up in the middle of the Mobian fleet. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

"What? Fi! Look out!"

Fiona's focus snapped back to where she was and what was in front of her just in time to recognize Li Moon. The younger Vixen crashed into her and dragged her away. The impact stunned Fiona, but only long enough to let her get away from Bunnie. Fiona's senses return just in time for her to collide with the deck of one of Eggman's cruisers.

Li Moon landed a few meters away, laughing at Fiona's pain. "You know, I honestly thought you'd have run away by now." She walked over slowly, quite blatantly taking pride in her position. "You've abandoned everyone else so far, haven't you?"

Fiona tried to stand, but had to reach back and unclip the Gear from her feet. Her mind was racing, trying to think of what to do. Li Moon would be standing over her in a few seconds. There wouldn't be much she could do at that point.

Li Moon let the moment take over her. She leaned in close, offering a deceptive smile when Fiona glanced up at her. "Tails is mine. In time, you'll just be a memory, gratefully forgotten."

The sound of a Gear skidding to a halt on the cruiser's deck alerted Li Moon. She turned to face the intruder only to relax when she saw it was the Conquering Storm. The Lynx on the other hand looked quite unhappy. Li Moon remembered what she had done earlier, still not sure how Conquering Storm had survived. She was probably here for revenge.

The enraged Lynx pointed at Li Moon, walking toward her and bristling with hostility. "You're going to pay for what you did to me."

Li Moon put up her hands defensively. "Hey! We're on the same side, right? I got something I'm in the middle of. Come back later and we'll talk. Like mature adults, right?"

Conquering Storm never stopped walking, but offered a few words. "Hold her still."

Li Moon was about to ask what she meant when Fiona's arm wrapped around her throat. She had no time to respond before Conquering Storm's fist collided with her chest, forcing the air out of her lungs.

Fiona didn't exactly enjoy what she was doing or what she was letting happen, but it sure beat whatever would happen if she didn't do it. She flinched as Conquering Storm landed another heavy blow, this time causing Li Moon to cough up blood.

Conquering Storm hit Li Moon in the face, then looked at Fiona. "Let her go."

Fiona obeyed and Li Moon dropped to the deck, gasping for breath. Conquering Storm wasted no time and, grabbing her by the hair, dragged her towards the edge of the deck. Li Moon screamed in pain and grasped at the Lynx's hand, trying to free herself.

Fiona stood back. She didn't want to see Li Moon die, especially since she would probably have to explain it to Tails, but she also didn't want to step in the way. Then she heard a voice.

"_Fiona. Pick up the comm. device. It's on the ground in front of you."_

She could see the little earpiece on the ground, so she picked it up and put it on. "Who are you and what do you want?" Even as she spoke, she was clipping her Gear back on.

The voice was emotionless, but familiar. "_I can't tell you who I am, but I can tell you that you really want to save Li Moon right now."_

"I'm already there." She pulled the device off her ear and snapped it in half. She took to the air and, throwing away the broken electronics, charged towards Conquering Storm.

Before Fiona could reach her target, however, Conquering Storm had reached her own. She hauled Li Moon over the edge without a second thought, then turned to see Fiona heading towards her. She ducked a split second before Fiona would have hit her, letting both Gear and rider fly past unhindered.

Fiona pushed her Gear into a dive without even looking back to the irate Lynx. She pushed it as hard as she could, trying to catch up with Li Moon. She wanted to catch her before the tree line, because flying in amongst trees would be more than she could handle. She could see Li Moon, but it didn't seem like the other Vixen could see her. As soon as she was level with Li Moon, she reached out and grabbed her around the waist. She slowed to a stop, and after checking to make sure the younger Vixen was still alive, she headed for the safest landing spot she could find.

Li Moon was alive, and she was far from unconscious. She still had a mission to complete. Reaching down, she unclipped Fiona's foot and kicked it out of place, clipping her own foot in it's place.

Naturally, Fiona noticed, and promptly fell off the Gear. Her other foot still being attached cause the Gear to flip over, dragging Li Moon with it. Now upside-down, the Gear began to fall.

* * *

Tails flew around streams of laser fire and through clouds of smoke. He looked up at the Death Egg, spotting Sally and Nicole and noting that they were almost inside. Then he noticed something else, roughly halfway between him and the Mobian fleet. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like Fiona and Li Moon were on the same Gear, and they were falling out of the sky. Tails glanced back in the direction of the Death Egg briefly before heading to help.

Something was wrong. He wasn't moving. Tails looked down at his Gear, thinking it was a technical error. What he saw was indeed the problem, but it was nothing to do with the Gear. It was Sonic.

Tails tried to pull away from him, but the Hedgehog wasn't about to let go. "Sonic! Get off me!"

Sonic wasn't playing. "You've crossed the line, Tails. There comes a time when you've got to pay for what you've done."

Tails couldn't shake the Gear out of Sonic's hands. He looked back to where Fiona had been, but couldn't see her. Either they had crashed, in which case they were certainly dead, or they had straightened out the Gear. There was no way for him to know. He wouldn't get to find out unless he could get away from Sonic, who was aiming for a fight.

He didn't like it, but it was going to have to happen. "Alright, Sonic. You want a fight? You got one."


	10. Evening The Odds

Tails' body hit the side of one of Eggman's airships, tearing a hole in the hull and coming out the other side. Any normal Mobian would have splattered against the hardened metal, and the hit would have severely injured Tails had he not managed to form a shield of chaos energy around himself. As it was, he must have ruptured something on his way through. The ship exploded, molten shrapnel and flames harassing his shield. Tails quickly flew back through the fireball to confront Sonic, keeping the shield up.

Tails had a large reserve of chaos energy in the form of rings he had collected over the years. Sonic had the same, though the number of rings he had collected was vastly greater, but Sonic also currently held a Chaos Emerald that would boost his speed, his strength, and his ability to penetrate a chaos shield.

Sonic's fist did just that, hitting Tails on the forehead and knocking him off balance. Before he could right himself Sonic hit him again, almost knocking his legs out from under him. Sonic was moving faster than Tails could follow, hitting in deliberately the opposite of the way they had been trained, kicking from below and punching from above in order to keep Tails from being able to counter.

The fight wasn't going well and Tails knew it. He took another kick to the head and began to drop, thinking he might have a chance on the ground. He just had to survive long enough to get to the ground. If nothing else, it would let him search for Fiona's body at the same time…

* * *

Sally ran her hand along the hull of the Death Egg as she flew towards the entry point. The Death Egg was tilting, moving it's main cannon to aim at the Mobian fleet. If she let it finish, it would hit the flagship head on.

Nicole stopped ahead of Sally, pointing at a spot on the hull. "There it is! Access panel!"

Sally quickly joined her and looked over the panel. There didn't seem to be an easy way to remove it quickly, and she needed to keep moving or she would be vaporized by Eggman's fleet. Before she could speak, Nicole grabbed her and pulled her out of the way of a laser bolt.

Nicole laughed nervously. "Well, there's our opening. You alright?"

Sally looked at the panel, now featuring a gaping hole. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get in there."

They maneuvered their Gears through the hole and found themselves in one of the Death Egg's outer hallways. There was nothing to indicate which direction their targets were, but Nicole could determine the layout easily. She pointed down a corridor heading straight towards the centre.

"There's an adequate control console for our purposes about a hundred meters in and twenty more to the right. There is another hall leading off of the main corridor. Once you get to it, you should be able to see the console."

Sally started down the corridor, wishing Nicole good luck as she went. She used the Gear, as it was faster than running and allowed her to go over and of Eggman's minions instead of having to go through them. Following Nicole's instructions, she turned the corner and found the console.

Stepping off her Gear and kneeling, Sally cracked open the access panel set directly below the controls. She was about to stick her head in and start working when someone behind her spoke. She looked up, startled by the strangely familiar face.

"You might want my help with that."

Sally looked up to see the yellow-furred Fox standing behind her. She was about to ask who he was when she saw his two tails. "Uh… Tails? How did you get here?"

He shook his head and gently pushed her aside. "I'm not Tails. The fail-safe, right?" She nodded and he crawled inside the console, leaving his legs sticking out. "I'm just here to help, that's all."

Sally couldn't help it. If he wasn't Tails, then who was he? He didn't look like any of the alternate universe versions of Tails she had seen. "Alright, then who are you?"

His voice echoed from the inside of the console. "That… that's not really important. All that's important is making sure you survive and spend the rest of your life happily with Sonic. Tails too. He's doubly important."

"Who does he get to live happily ever after with? Fiona, or Li Moon?"

"What? Oh, okay, fail-safe down." He pulled himself back out and sat up. "Anyway, um, yeah… I'm actually here to make sure that neither of them get in the way of the person he's supposed to be with."

Sally jumped back on her Gear. "Okay, well, you're going to want to get outta here, cause this place is about to get really hot."

* * *

Nicole had found the capacitor. She had just positioned herself for optimal damage when Sally's voice came over the communicator telling her that the fail-safe was out of the way. She nodded, taking one last look at the room while she gave Sally a few seconds to escape.

"Alright, that should be good." Then she detonated.

* * *

Snively choked on the information as Lien-da announced that one of the capacitors had been destroyed, and that the fail-safe hadn't kicked in to shut the main cannon off. All the power that had been directed out through the cannon was now surging back to the Super Emerald. Snively ran, hoping he could get to an escape pod before it was too late.

Once Snively was off the bridge, Eggman tapped a command on the interface on the arm of his chair, effectively sealing the bridge. He then turned to Lien-da. "Launch the bridge escape pod immediately."

* * *

Fiona looked up to see the bridge section of the Death Egg ejecting. It was a bad time for her to be looking elsewhere and Li Moon took advantage of that, trying to shove her off the Gear, an action that caused the Gear to tilt upwards.

Li Moon grabbed Fiona around the neck with both hands and squeezed. "You can't have Tails! I won't let you!"

Fiona tried to break her grip, but the younger Vixen was too stubborn to let go. She wedged her hands underneath Li Moon's, trying to at least be able to breathe or speak. "Kill me… and Tails… will hate you."

Li Moon froze, knowing Fiona was right. It was a thought she had been trying to avoid, but now that it had been said she couldn't ignore it. Tails had a thing for Fiona, and there was no secret about it. How could she have expected to get away with killing Fiona?

The sudden heat to her back snapped her out of her trance as the Death Egg exploded above them. Fiona could see the entire thing one moment, then it disappeared behind a massive cloud of fire the next. Then Fiona felt something jab into her belly, releasing blood and racking her body with pain. She had been hit with a chunk of shrapnel in the form of a jagged piece of metal plating. Only the corner stuck into her body, the rest having stopped at Li Moon after nearly cleaving her in half. Fiona saw darkness as it began to creep into her vision.

The shockwave hit them and they fell.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Lot's of scene jumping. Sorry for that. Also sorry that some of the scenes are really short, but it's supposed to give the feeling that everything is happening very quickly... Did it work?


	11. Victory, But No One Cheers

Eggman held the arms of his chair as if his life depended on it. Lien-da was sprawled on the floor, unable to stand while the whole ship was shaking. She covered her head with her arms as some of the light panels on the ceiling exploded, showering the bridge crew with sparks.

Lien-da looked up to Eggman's pale face. "Sir! They've destroyed the Death Egg!"

He didn't move, frozen in fear, his reply barely a whisper. "I know."

She tried to stand back up, hoping to snap him back to reality. "They destroyed the damned Death Egg! We need to get the hell out of here!"

He looked at her, his teeth clenched so hard they were close to breaking. "...Yes, right. Land us on the nearest Egg Carrier! Issue orders for said carrier to begin retreating! Have the rest of the fleet cover our escape!"

She nodded and crawled over to her console, relaying the orders.

* * *

The shockwave from the Death Egg knocked Tails out of the air. He felt his body slam into the side of a ship and begin to roll down the slanted hull. He reacted quickly, stabbing his twin namesakes into the metal armor and stopping his roll. He glanced up to where the Death Egg had been one second earlier, then threw himself to one side as a steel plate slammed into the hull beside him, burying itself several feet deep.

Tails began to climb up the side of the ship, using his tails to hold himself on and his claws to pull himself up. Nearing the top, he recognized the ship as one of the Egg Carriers. He was on the nose of the ship, and it looked like the cannon was open and preparing to fire. When he reached the top, he looked down at the massive cannon's barrel. It was charging, and only a few seconds away from firing. What caught Tails' attention was Sonic, who was standing on a ledge over the cannon. He had his Gear in one hand and the cyan chaos emerald in the other.

Tails tried to get Sonic's attention. "Sonic! The cannon's about to fire! You're too close!"

Sonic looked up to Tails and winked. "How about a deal, buddy?"

Tails tried to climb over the edge of the hull, but was suddenly shoved down by a blast of hot air as a ship flew overhead. He struggled to hold on, but managed to reply. "A deal? What do you mean?"

Sonic looked back to the cannon as it charged up. "I can stop this Egg Carrier. But I need you to promise me something."

Tails looked up at the ship that had flown overhead. It was landing on the Egg Carrier's flight deck. He recognized it as the bridge section from the Death Egg. "Sonic! That's Eggman!"

Sonic nodded. "I'll take out the carrier, and Eggman will go with it. Can you make me a promise, Tails?"

Tails glanced up to Eggman's escape craft, then nodded. "Alright. A promise."

Sonic smiled. "Take care of Sally."

Before Tails could answer, Sonic jumped off the ledge and fastened his shoes onto the Gear. He shot off ahead of the carrier and out of sight. Tails tried to see Sonic, but all he could see was the carrier's target. It was the Mobian fleet's flagship.

* * *

Eggman stepped down the landing ramp and onto the flight deck of the Egg Carrier. Lien-da stepped down just behind him, and though he had calmed down considerably, she was still frantic. He looked around, noticing something very peculiar. There was an orange two-tailed Fox hanging off the nose of his ship.

"Lien-da, do be a dear and clean that off." He waved his hand dismissively in Tails' direction.

Lien'da wrinkled her nose at the task, but reluctantly obeyed. As Eggman headed for the bridge of the carrier, she carefully stepped down to where Tails was clinging to the ship. He looked up at her, his eyes wide. She grinned disarmingly at him and took her whip from her belt.

Tails sighed and shook his head. "What that has happened recently makes you think this is a good idea?"

The whip cracked mere inches away from his hand. Lien-da laughed. "You haven't been helpless up until now. Besides, Eggman doesn't like bugs on his windshield. I'm just cleaning them off."

Tails glanced down, then ahead of the carrier. Lien-da squinted, trying to see what might be ahead of them. Tails used the distraction to move farther away. She growled at him and moved closer, inching slowly along the edge of the hull. If she lost her balance, she would slide down the side and fall off the ship.

"What are you playing at, Tails? You can't get away from me!"

He looked back to her and grinned. "You're forgetting something important, methinks." He let go of the ship and slid down the side, jumping off and spinning his tails, taking to the air.

Lien-da cursed and was about to turn to go back when the cannon fired. The entire ship rocked, knocking her off her feet and over the side. She tumbled, trying to grab onto something as she got closer to the edge. Her attempts failed her and she slipped off the edge and fell.

* * *

Sonic ducked under the blue stream of energy that arced through the air. He turned and watched as the shot hit the Mobian flagship, punching through the side and tearing the hangar bay apart. Power generators exploded and fuel lines lit up, turning the whole ship into an inferno. It lurched to one side and fell to the ground, sending up a massive cloud of flame and dust. The hull cracked and melted, shattering as secondary explosions ripped through the length of the ship.

Sonic turned back to the Egg Carrier. "Alright Eggman... if that's how you want to play, then that's how we'll play!" He gripped the chaos emerald, channeling it's energy through his body. A bright blue aura began to glow around him. Then he began to charge at the Egg Carrier.

* * *

Eggman sat down in the command chair specially reserved for him on the bridge of the Egg Carrier. "Lien-da! Get us moving away from the battle."

There was no response. One of the robotic bridge crew stepped up to him, offering it's assistance. "Sir, we can get moving right away."

Eggman sighed. "Sure, whatever. Why isn't Lien-da done yet?"

The robot clicked a few times before responding. "She doesn't appear to be onboard, my lord."

"What? Where did she go?" He put his face in his hand and groaned. "A simple task! Oh well, better to act than to... whatever I should be doing at the loss of a trusted lieutenant. Captain! Move us out of here!"

"My lord, something's heading toward us! Speed reads at three and a half times the speed of sound and climbing!"

Eggman coughed, nearly choking at the thought. "On screen!" The screen showed a blinding blue light shooting straight at them. Eggman leaned forward, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead. "...Sonic..."

"Sir, at that speed, with a chaos emerald, if he rams us our ship will be destroyed. We must take immediate action."

Eggman was visibly shaking, but it wasn't fear. He stood up from his chair and stretched out his arm, pointing at the image of Sonic on the screen. "Fire everything! Destroy the Hedgehog! Destroy him! Destroy! Destroy! Destroy! Fire the main cannon! Vaporize him!"

His orders were followed as the bridge crew fire everything in the Egg Carrier's arsenal at Sonic. He watched as streams of laser deflected off Sonic's aura while bullets and missiles completely missed, unable to adjust to the Hedgehog's sheer speed and acceleration.

Eggman flailed his arm around him, fueled by an ever-growing rage. His hand clamped on the captain robot's head and crushed it seemingly effortlessly. "FIRE THE MAIN CANNON! NOW!"

As per orders, the main cannon fired. Eggman watched as Sonic vanished into the overwhelming blast. A maniacal laugh erupted from the madman as he reveled in his triumph. Sonic the Hedgehog, his long-time nemesis, was gone forever. So lost was he in his victory that he never noticed what the screen showed after the main cannon finished firing. Sonic was still there, moving even faster than before.

Warning sirens blared all around him. "Warning. Warning. Incoming object. Threat level: Extremely High. All hands abandon ship. Warning. Warning."

Sonic curled into a tight ball, his spines becoming rigid and razor sharp. He was now propelled solely by the emerald's power, his Gear having been atomized in the energy beam. As soon as he hit the Egg Carrier, the emerald's energy ignited everything onboard. Fuel and power conduits burst, armories detonated, and robots exploded. Sonic, Eggman, and the Egg Carrier disappeared inside a sudden burst of blue fire.

* * *

Sally watched the blue fireball from a safe distance. Knuckles and Amy stood on either side of her. Amy was starting to cry, and Sally was closer than she would admit to breaking down. Knuckles put his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"We need to help get people out of our own downed ships. Bunnie and the Chaotix are already headed over there."

Amy sobbed again, but managed to speak. "Y-yeah... they need our help right now."

Sally nodded. "You two go help out. There's something else I need to do first."

Knuckles waved as he walked away. "Don't take too long. There's a lot of mess to clean up here."

Sally watched them go, only turning away once they were out of sight. She scanned the landscape in front of her as smoke and ash began to obscure everything. She started walking in the direction she sensed was right, making sure to keep her path straight. Through the clouds of smoke, she eventually saw her objective. A dark shadow stood out among the haze, standing over a broken body.

Sally knelt down beside Fiona's unconscious form, addressing the form standing over them both. "Will she be okay?"

Two tails thrashed around behind him, indicating to her that the situation made him uncomfortable. "...I believe so. I have no business with her anymore. The timeline has been disrupted beyond repair. I... you won't hear from me again. Goodbye Aunt Sally."

She looked up to see him disappear into the smoke. She still had no idea who he was, but it saddened her that she would never get to find out. In a way, she was slightly jealous. In the face of tremendous loss, he could disappear. He could hide. She had never had that luxury.

"We have to get her some medical attention as quickly as possible. They would likely not take her in very readily in Mobotropolis, so the medical facilities in Knothole would be a better choice."

She turned around in shock and found herself facing Zak, the sergeant she had met earlier. Now, however, he was wearing something more befitting a mercenary, a dark jacket over a green shirt. Overcoming her surprise, she looked back to Fiona and began working to pick her up without injuring her further.

Sally shook her head and moved around to Fiona's other side. "No, Knothole's still in shambles. We don't have any medics there that could handle this."

He sighed, seeming to think something over, then shrugged. "Then give her to me. I'll take care of her."

Sally looked up at him, surprised again. "Wha- no... She needs the best doctors we have or-"

"That's me. I'll take her. I have a house in the forest. No one will find her there and I can take care of her and help her heal."

Sally sighed and nodded. "Alright... I need to know where this house is, and... why do you care so much about her?"

He smiled as he reached down and scooped Fiona into his arms. "I have to care for her. I missed her childhood when I should have been right beside her the whole time. She will probably still be angry with me, but I have to try and make it up to her."

"I... I don't understand."

"Fiona is my daughter."


	12. Remember The Fallen

Bunnie's powerful robotic arm bent steel support columns out of the way as she worked her way through the fallen ship. Because of the smoke and fires, along with the threat of collapse, the rescue teams hadn't been willing to go any further into the ship. She was alone, digging through twisted metal and the occasional body. She refused to stop until she found Antoine.

As she cleared another chunk of debris out of the way, a smile found it's way to her face. Through the mess of cables, she could see a group of survivors. Four of the ship's crew, along with Geoffrey St. John and Maximilian Acorn greeted her with relief.

She bowed gracefully. "Your majesty, your escort has arrived."

The king, Sally's father, smiled kindly. "I take it you were searching for your husband instead."

Bunnie tried to hide the worry that showed on her face, but it was no use. "Ah... yes, your majesty."

He patted her shoulder. "It's alright, I understand. I had him helping in the hangar bay when the ship went down, so he should be better off than we were."

Geoffrey stepped in. "Mrs. D'Coolette, would you please guide us out of the ship."

Bunnie smiled, some of her worry disappearing, and gave a mock salute. "Sho thing. Follow me, y'all."

With that, they began their climb out of the burning wreck.

* * *

Knuckles skidded to a stop just outside the hangar bay, raising his hand to shield his face from the heat of the flames spewing from the wreckage. Amy stopped beside him and wrinkled her nose at the smell of burning fuel.

Knuckles grimaced. "The hangar's practically flattened. Hope everybody got out safely."

Amy pinched her nose. "It smells like one of Eggman's cities... do we have to go in there?"

Behind them, a friendly and familiar voice called out. "Non. Zere are several dead, but we got everyone else out just fine." They spun around to see Antoine standing strong and tall. He had a few cuts and scrapes, but he seemed perfectly fine otherwise. He casually dusted off his shirt and took a step toward them.

Amy lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay! I don't think I could take losing anyone else today!"

Antoine managed to pry her off. "Lose? What is zis you say?"

Amy started crying, so Knuckles tried to explain. "Eggman's been defeated for good, and most of his fleet went with him, but... there's no sign of Sonic. Tails is gone too, but he might just be staying under the radar."

Charmy Bee buzzed over happily. "We found Rotor! He's alright! Everyone else is helping get people out of the wreck! Khan's even helping out!"

Knuckles nodded to him. "That's good news at least. Did they get the king out yet?"

Charmy shook his head, but kept smiling. "No, he's still in there. Ut Bunnie found him and they're all okay!"

Antoine looked back to Knuckles. "What about... Princess Sally?"

He shrugged. "She's okay, but she said she had something else she needed to get done."

* * *

Sally looked over the old house, noting that it had been kept in good repair. It was mostly made of wood, but with a cobblestone base. Other than everything being clean and tidy, there were no signs that anyone had lived there for years.

Zak nodded at the front door. "Could you get that?"

Sally jumped ahead and opened the door so Zak could carry Fiona into the house. She followed him inside and shut the door. Zak carried Fiona into a bedroom and laid her on a small bed, then sat down on a bedside chair and ran his fingers through his hair.

Sally found another chair and sat down as well. "She... she'll be okay, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah... listen, I need to make sure she'll be safe. Can I count on you for that?"

Sally shrugged. "I'm not sure what you mean, but I won't do anything to endanger her."

Zak sighed. "A lot of people would like to come after her. If they knew where she was, she would be in danger. Can I trust you not to tell anyone about this place?"

Sally dropped her voice to a near whisper. "By "anyone" you mean..."

"The Freedom Fighters. The Chaotix. Your father and his people. Any of your allies or enemies. No one can be allowed to know."

She could tell from the look in his eyes and the tone in his voice that he was dead serious. Fiona would be in grave danger, or at least her father believed she would be, if any other living soul knew the location of the house. She would have agreed anyway, but something in his voice compelled her to obey. Something told her that if he suspected she would tell someone, he would take action to silence her. At first, she didn't think it quite fit with his character, but the more she thought about it the more she realized he could potentially bring down the Freedom Fighters.

She wasn't sure he was capable of it, and still didn't think he would take it that far, but she knew how to avoid finding out the hard way. Zak had already gotten on her father's flag ship. He had fooled her before. She couldn't underestimate him, but that didn't mean she couldn't try and find out more about him.

He shook his head and stood. "She'll be fine. You need to go now. I have something I need to take care of."

Sally nodded, standing and walking out of the room. She glanced back at Fiona one last time before he closed the door. Her motioned for her to lead the way out of the house. She found herself making sure she could see him, feeling more wary of him with every passing second.

Once the were outside, he pointed in the direction they had come. "You should get back. They'll be wondering where you are. Remember, don't say anything about this place, about Fiona, or about me. I want you to enjoy the rest of your life, so please, respect my wishes."

She nodded and jogged off, eager to get away from him and forget about all of it. She had to make sure the other Freedom Fighters had come through the battle unharmed, or at least intact. She briefly glanced back to see him walking in another direction. Confidant she wouldn't have to worry about being followed, she never saw a dark figure trailing her.

* * *

"There she is!" Amy cheered, seeing Sally approaching.

The Mobian princess smiled and ran up to her team. Amy hugged her happily. Knuckles crossed his arms and laughed as Bunnie leaped in and joined the hug. Antoine held back a bit, waiting for Bunnie to come out of the tangle so they could embrace as well. Rotor called out a cheer, raising his fist in the air.

"Is there room for anyone else in the celebration?"

Sally looked up to see her father, backed by Geoffrey St. John. He spread his arms, asking for a hug from his daughter. She pried herself away from Amy and Bunnie and wrapped her arms around him.

Geoffrey nearly fell on his face as Vector slapped him on the back. "We did it! The Eggman's gone for good!"

The bruised Skunk rubbed his back and winced. "I'll believe it when I see good proof, but at least we can be sure he's not going to be a problem for a while."

The rest of the Chaotix appeared from behind Vector. Julie-su hugged Knuckles and kissed him. Ray and Charmy clapped gleefully from Mighty and Espio's shoulders respectively. Rouge stood back and didn't say much except to her prisoner, who she had rescued in freefall.

Lien-da snorted at the Bat. "You know, there's really no reason to have me in cuffs anymore."

Rouge shrugged, smiling. "We'll make sure you get a fair trial. If you help us negotiate the surrender of the rest of Eggman's empire, we can have you released to help your people start a new civilization free of the doctor's influence. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Sally looked around, finally turning to Espio. "Did Ken leave already?"

The Chameleon nodded. "He has taken the Conquering Storm and returned with her to the Dragon Kingdom. He believes he can make peace now that Eggman is gone."

Sally smiled and took a step back, looking out over everyone. "Well... thank you everyone. The war is finally over. Now, I believe, it's time for us to go home and celebrate. We have lost some good friends today, but mourning is for another day. The fall of the Eggman Empire calls for celebration, and that's what we're going to do. So let's go home."

Cheers were raised and tears of joy were shed as they made their way to the shuttles that would ferry them to the remaining airships that would then take them home. Sally hung back and watched, suddenly aware of someone behind her. She turned to the treeline where she saw a young friendly face looking back at her from the shadows.

Sally smiled, relieved to know he was alright. "Tails..."

He held up a hand. "Hi, Sally."

She motioned to the others as they walked away, unaware of his presence. "Come on, Tails. Let's go home."

He shook his head. "You know I can't. I have a job to do."

Sally's smile disappeared. "Oh, come on, Tails. Eggman is gone. You got rid of Scourge and the Babylon Rogues too, not to mention Fang and his gang. You finished your mission. Mobius is free."

Tails sighed. "Yeah... and now Sonic is gone."

"Tails, that wasn't your fault. He sacrificed himself for all of us. So you wouldn't have to keep fighting."

He shook his head again. "It's not just him. Li Moon's gone too. She... she was my sister."

"Tails..."

He cut her off. "And Fiona."

Sally bit her lip. She wanted to tell him that Fiona was alive, but she knew she couldn't. Even Tails... she didn't want to test Zak. She looked back to the others, noticing they had gotten quite far away.

"I have to go, Tails."

He rubbed his forehead with his hand. "When you get back to Mobotropolis, tell Ash that Mina's okay. She thinks I died and is determined to continue on in my place."

Sally took a step toward him. "Mina's gonna try hunting down criminals now?"

"Yeah, I know. I'll keep an eye on her." He looked back into the forest. "Listen, don't tell anyone I'm still alive. Don't tell them I'm dead, but don't tell them I'm alive. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay..."

Tails stepped out of the shadows and held out his hand. "I... I guess this is goodbye."

She took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Okay... goodbye Tails."

He let go and turned around, walking into the forest and disappearing without a sound. She turned and headed to follow the others, already knowing that she would be putting on a facade during the celebration. Her head was swimming with thoughts, not knowing if she would ever see Tails, Mina, or Fiona ever again. Coupled with the loss of Sonic, she felt she was on the edge of a breakdown. Working up her facade, she ran to join the others, determined to at least look like she was going to enjoy the coming night.

* * *

Pain seared through her as she lay on the ground. Blood was smeared all over her body and was beginning to pool beneath her. She couldn't feel her legs, and she knew why. She couldn't feel them because she could see them, along with half of her torso, several meters away from her. Her clothes were mostly burnt off, as was much of her fur. She clenched her hands into fists, trying to hold on to life a few seconds longer. Her right hand clenched, but the left didn't. She couldn't move her head to see why, but all there was where a hand should have been was a bloody stump. She choked on her own blood as it dripped out her mouth and began coughing.

A shadow fell across her dying remains. "Well, well, well. Still holding onto your miserable existence, I see. Here, let me help you."

Blackness covered Li Moon's vision as a pair of strong arms lifted what was left of her off the ground and began to carry her away.

* * *

There was a dark room. There were light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, but they had long since died. The room's inhabitants didn't need it anyway, so the lights remained in disrepair. Three dark, dirty figures stood at one end of the room, facing a fourth who sat at the back wall.

One of the three spoke, it's eyes flicking on and off with a bright blue light. "The fat man has been eliminated. This is confirmed."

Another one spoke, it's eyes flicking with the same light. "The Hedgehog has also been eliminated. Also confirmed."

The seated figure's eyes flicked on, shining a solid blue light. "What of the greatest threat."

The third one's eyes flickered as well. "Miles Prower is still alive. We cannot initiate our plan while he is still alive."

The lone one stood quickly, interrupting. "Yes, we can. We must. He is an important part of my plan."

The three others backed towards the door as their leader advanced on them. It's claws raked across the walls, leaving long gashes. They were quickly forced outside of the small room and onto a catwalk where they quickly scattered. The leader looked over the edge of the catwalk into the darkness below, it's eyes scanning what was hidden in the darkness. It hissed as words came from it's mouth with an electric buzz.

"Mobius is my gift to you, my children. I ask only that you bring me Miles Prower. I want him alive. Everything and everyone else... well, that is up to you."

Thousands of electric blue eyes lit up far below the catwalk. They began their march, heading for the surface as one. Their leader look to it's side where it's master stood. He watched them go, a sad smile on his face. He loved Mobius and had always wished it would never change. Earlier events had shown him that things could never be the same again.

He looked back at the machine beside him. "Remember. I need Tails to protect the future. When I finish with him, he's all yours."

The machine bowed mechanically. "It is as you say. We will keep our promise in honor of all you've done for us, Silver."

* * *

**Author says: The next arc begins. Go find it! The first chapter of Hero Of Sorts: Synthetic Sister is released on Monday, May 27, 2013! Be prepared! The beast is coming...**


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